Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Apple officially ranks number one in retail sales per square foot, according to a new study published by retail analysis firm RetailSails that analyzed 160+ top U.S.-based retailers. As you can see from the graphic above (full graphic below), Apple is almost two times ahead of their closest competitor (Tiffany & Co), and almost five times ahead of the closest technology related retailer (GameStop). What’s most impressive is the fact Apple has much less experience in retail (ten years as of May) than most of other retailers included in the study.

Apple has been on a roll lately opening new retail shops in the US, UK, Spain, and then three more slated to open in Charlotte, Little Rock, and Paris this weekend. This is all part of a massive retail expansion which recently lead the company to become the nation’s fastest growing retailer, according to USA Today. Apple retail stores in the U.S. grew nearly 80% from the year prior with U.S. retail sales increasing $4.6 billion during the first quarter of 2011.

According to USAToday:

That increase accounted for one-fifth of all sales growth by publicly traded retailers in the U.S., according to a recent analysis of sales trends by retail sales expert David Berman.Keep in mind these numbers are only including U.S.-based retailers (apart from two who do the majority of their business in the US). Apple is rapidly expanding abroad as well with a possible shop in Russia, and other stores popping up all over the EU, many of which make up the thirty new stores the company plans on opening by September of this year. Full graphic from RetailSails below, if you’re interested.

Following the discontinuation of the touchpad and the palm/hp pre we where looking around hp's website and look what we found here!

If you dont see it yet here is a closer look!

we know what everyone is thinking(thy stated they discontinued their phone and tablet lineup) however if you look at the first screenshot they updated the page with the $99 Touchpad 1st gen price. Did HP just need to clear out its tablet inventory for the ultimate refresh? We are optimistic, and wouldn't mind it much if this is what they did(we are extremely happy with our 1st gen touchpad and at $99 it was cheaper than my ipod nano 6th gen and you can't compete with that). The recent rumors have been that HP will license the WebOS OS to other handset manufacturers and continue to update the platform(we hope this is true(IMO I like WebOS better than Android, even thought it has less apps)) We hope that HP will announce the amount of Touchpads and Pre/Veer handsets have been sold to boost developer interest in the platform. Even if this is a human error and they forgot to take down that banner, we hope this isn't the last we see of WebOS!

BTW: We found these pages to be quite interesting!

And This ONE surprised us all!

Is This a early page for the 4G LTE 1.5ghz Touch pad second generation.. it is interesting that PCMall has these pages up.

For all those will start complaining about the $99 bait and switch, you will not find anything in any comparison to the HP Touchpad ad $99, even the iPod Nano 6th gen is $149. At least you can surf the web(with flash),watch movies, listen to music, and have a few apps that make it all the more of a insane deal!

Today’s Sprint iPhone 5 news hit at around 3PM Eastern (well unless you count June) which sent Wall St. scrambling. Immediately, traders hit Sprint shares driving the third biggest US Wireless company up over 10% in just minutes. It’s not just gravy for Sprint, however, Apple Bull Gene Munster estimates that Apple can now count on selling 6 million more iPhones.

AAPL was also up on the news with the broader market.

Why does anyone care about Sprint? Well, Sprint has lower data costs, and offers truly unlimited data plans. They also have two of the more popular Pre-paid options in Boost and Virgin Mobile. Sprint also offers integrated Google Voice (if you are into that sort of thing).

One thing most people don’t expect however is to see a 4G WiMAX iPhone. The chips, costs and battery sacrifices aren’t something that Apple has done in the past, especially for a relatively small market. Still, it’s not out of the realm of possibility. Read more

We’d originally heard that Sprint was getting iPhone engineers ready in their Kansas City headquarters in May and heard directly that they were ramping for the iPhone in June. Today the Wall St. Journal is reporting that Sprint will carry the iPhone 5 along with AT&T and Verizon in the US. The nation’s third largest carrier has been struggling of late and the addition of the iconic device on TRULY unlimited plans would certainly be a differentiator.

Sprint Nextel Corp. will begin selling the iPhone 5 in mid-October, people familiar with the matter said, closing a huge hole in the No. 3 U.S. carrier’s lineup and giving Apple Inc. another channel for selling its popular phone. The timing, however, indicates Apple’s new iPhone will hit the market later than expected and too late to contribute to sales in the company’s fiscal fourth quarter, which ends in September. Most observers had expected the device to arrive next month. Top U.S. carrier Verizon Wireless and No. 2 AT&T Inc. will begin selling the phone in mid-October as well, two of the people said. Sprint had more than 52 million subscribers at the end of the second quarter, compared with 106 million for Verizon and nearly 99 million for AT&T.Sprint will also carry the iPhone 4, starting at the same time, one person familiar with the situation said. There has been some question previously whether the Sprint iPhone will be launched simultaneous to AT&T and Verizon. A Sprint forum member last month was able to get the same information as the Wall St. Journal but questioned the release timing.

Additionally, Sprint subsidiary Virgin Mobile has been refiguring its plans for throttling in early October, perhaps signalling that the iPhone may make its first US pre-paid appearance.

You might have heard there was a little trembler on the east coast earlier today. Perhaps due to the renovation of the glass cube overhead, we’re hearing that the whole 5th Avenue Store was evacuated and both customers and employees were relocated to Central Park while the structure was checked for damages.

So I imagine there is a marketing meeting at the Sony Bravia offices a few months ago where they are brainstorming new ways to market this 46″ TV.

Someone steps up and says Apple is about to release a new OS and all of their boxes are going to have this ‘Galaxy Swirl’ thing on the cover. Perhaps we can confuse a few people into thinking this is Apple/type/quality products.

Sure, its a different angle and view, but it is pretty clear what the intention was. While this is probably legal and will certainly fool a certain part of the population, those who follow tech have to feel a little sorry for the once-great Sony, which is rapidly turning into an also-ran knock-off artist.

*thanks 9to5mac*

Sears had an iWork toolset a while back. It seems everyone is trying to make a buck off apple customers...